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Tuesday, May 10, 2011

United States Needs Pakistan

The US military commander responsible for Afghanistan's eastern border with Pakistan said Monday that we need Pakistan in this fight and have to build trust with them.

Maj. Gen. John F. Campbell said the killing of bin Laden has the potential to discourage new recruits to al-Qaeda's cause and sow discord within the organization. But fighting in the days since the al-Qaeda leader's death has remained at normal levels, he said, and insurgents have predicted an increase in violence. "It's not the end of the war, as some people are saying," Campbell said in a telephone interview with the Washington Post. "One man doesn't make the war, and so we've got to continue to stay at it."

Maj. Gen. John F. Campbell said he had been worried that tension between the United States and Pakistan after bin Laden's death could disrupt the lower-level military cooperation that has taken place between his brigade and battalion commanders and their counterparts in Pakistan. He said he had expected that "border flag" meetings - where the two sides coordinate operations and share information - could be shut down. But one such meeting has already taken place in Paktika province since the death, he said.

"We need Pakistan in this fight. I think we've got to continue to build trust with them," he said. "We're working very hard at our level to build the relationship. United States uses Pakistan's port in Karachi and airspace for his operations in Afghanistan. Pakistani leaders have focused their attention on U.S. violating it's sovereignty where as member of U.S. congress want answers to Bin-Laden's presence in Abbottabad.